


The Puppeteers Takeover

by ab2fsycho



Series: The Candle Cult [2]
Category: The Candle Cult
Genre: M/M, NON-CON CHAPTER 4, PLEASE BE WARNED THERE IS NON-CON CHAPTER 4, Tea is shredded at some point, Torture, Violence, can anyone tell I'm mean to Tea, it's easy to tell, oh my god do i try to warn, will probably add more tags later if i forget any, you should be able to tell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-15
Updated: 2015-09-15
Packaged: 2018-04-20 23:40:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 5,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4806575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ab2fsycho/pseuds/ab2fsycho
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All of the works written by myself published on forums for the Pups Takeover. Special thanks to Pao, Prince, and Lee for collabing with me on art and character for a few of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Branding of Leland

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the forest guardian, with whom Tea has had a relationship, is branded by Tea's master.

"I always wanted a hand of nature." Liam looked incredibly pleased with the acquisition of the tree spirit called Leland, who was currently strapped into one of the chairs. He looked uncomfortable and . . . beautifully broken. "Oh Rowan," Liam lilted to the beast standing in the corner.

Tea responded in a strained voice, so quiet Liam almost didn't hear him. "Yes master."

Liam moved to the fire pit where a brand lay. "I think I'll keep your . . . friend," he bit out the last word before turning a possessive glare on the half skinwalker. "Weren't the two of you close?"

Tea bristled, and his master must have noted the tenseness of his muscles. The shaking of his hands.  
The water lining his eyes.

Tea shook his head slowly, throat clenching.

Liam hummed, pulling the brand from the fire. "Then be a good boy and hold his head still for me." Tea's body protested against the orders, but . . . his master's will overrode his own. Moving towards where Leland sat, the guardian's jaw locked and . . . his energy scorched Tea now. Tea went to remove his gloves so he could at least use physical contact to send a message through emotion, tell Leland how sorry he was, try to soothe him through the pain he was about to endure. Then Liam ordered, "Keep those on."

Tea fought back a whimper, and with trembling, gloved palms he cradled the head of one of the kindest beings he'd ever come across. His lips trembled as he whispered, "Forgive me," so quietly only he could hear. He felt so much from Leland. Anger. Fear. Mostly . . . pure agony. Tea grasped the guardian's head from behind firmly, not from Liam's orders but from a desperate need to not hurt someone who'd been nothing, absolutely nothing, but loving and kind to him.

"I think . . . right over the heart."

Tea closed his eyes and tears spilled down his face as Liam pressed the hot brand to Leland's exposed chest.


	2. While Your Eyes Were Closed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Tea starts to feel his reluctance when interest is shown in fellow cultist Lee.
> 
> Special collab I did with Lee. She has wonderful art for it on the forums. You should join and check it out.

"Look at what we have here."

Tea bristled Lee still clinging to his leg as he'd tried to get her to run back home. She couldn't be here. She couldn't go with him. It just wasn't safe with him anymore.

She clung tighter to him at the sound of Aiden's voice as the Master and Toy Rayne approached from the treeline. Tea's heart stopped. No. No, not Lee. Not her too, weren't the others enough? "She . . .," he fought not to bite his lip, glad she was keeping her face covered, "she's just some kid." He shook his leg again, but she refused to let go. "Go home!" he growled.

"Tea who are these people?" she asked, looking up at him with a face so trusting his gut twisted. "What do they want?"

"You're a sssshit liar, rat," Rayne hissed.

"Just bring the 'kid' along, and we can have a little fun," Aiden added, keeping his tone less venomous so as not to frighten Lee away.

But Tea . . . no. He couldn't do this. He wouldn't do this. Not to her. Stomping his foot, he declared, "Run!"

Lee finally listened, leaping off his leg and scurrying into the underbrush on all fours. Tea summoned his hammer, eyes glowing as a third opened on his forehead. Aiden took off after Lee, yelling at Rayne, "Handle him!"

"With pleassssure," she hissed pulling her mask down to reveal rows of fangs dripping with venom. Tea braced, gripping the handle of his warhammer tight.

This wasn't going to end well.

\--

"Now this is just a mess." Lee blinked, amber eyes opening and mouth still fouled by the taste of blood. It didn't taste right. There was something wrong with it. It made her ill, she wanted to throw it up her stomach churned so much.

And these were not the woods they had been in. This was an office she didn't recognize, and she was in the arms of the black haired man whose hand she'd bitten. She looked to where the other strange man was standing to find him standing over, "TEA!" She squirmed in the blacked haired man's hood, but his grip was too strong. "Tea no!" she cried, tears pricking her eyes. He looked so beaten, so torn up, and his chest wasn't moving like it should, he wasn't breathing! "Tea please wake--!"

"Look at you!" the other man mused happily as he stepped away from the wounded giant. "A dragon," he whispered, pulling at her already loose cloak as she shook her head and tried to get away from him. She wasn't supposed to be here. She wasn't supposed to be away from Tapi, she needed to get away before they hurt her, like they hurt Tea, oh God Tea--

"Hold still, little monster," the black haired man snarled as she cried out angrily. The other man started undoing the bandaging around her middle and she got ready to bite him.

Then Tea moved. His eyes opening. "Tea!" she cried again, alerting the strangers to his state.

She'd never heard such a feral snarl come from her friend before, his three eyes glowing gold as he lethargically sat up. "Let . . . her . . . g--!"

The other man turned on his heel to deliver a swift kick to Tea's jaw. The giant twisted and collapsed, the man responding in hushed outrage, "I'll get to you in a moment." Lee snarled, the seal on her chest now revealed as she struggled to avenge the chandelier. When the other turned back to her, his grin made her snarl more. "But first," his fingertips and eyes glowed red and went to mark over Tapi's seal. He began muttering an incantation as he drew his own seal.

Her snarls turned into screams.

\--

"They're leaving your fold in droves, it seems." Lance spoke through Lee, the Master striking so many terrible cords within the cult leader she wasn't sure which one to address first. "How does it feel to watch as your most precious is used by another?"

She went with rage. Smoke flaring, she bellowed, "Release her! Now!"

"Why would I do that?" Lance's voice was disgusting on Lee's tongue, his eyes hideous on her face. Tapi wanted to tear them out, rip his cords out of her. She fumed with a need to do so. "She's just so impressionable, don't you agree?"

"Get out getoutGETOUTGETOUT!" Tapi shouted as smoke surrounded her dragon, who laughed. This time, it was a combination of Lee's laugh as well as Lance's that reached her ears. She wrapped her smoke around Lee tighter.

"What's the matter Tapi?" The voice was shrill and multilayered. It was terrible. "You don't like my new look?"

No, she didn't. She couldn't stand it. And long after she'd snuffed out Lee's flame to temporarily sedate her, she heard that shrill voice.

And her blood boiled as she ached to make someone pay.


	3. A Demonstration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Liam demonstrates a Master's power over a puppet.

"Kneel." Rowan dropped to his knee at the uttered command. The puppet's head bowed so the Puppet Master could just see his eyes, Liam's eyes flicked to the expressions of those watching. "I don't think that's enough of a show," he muttered as a small smirk played across his scarred lip. "Go lower."

He could see Rowan's eyes flutter fretfully, certainly embarrassed at the display Liam was forcing him into. He obeyed after a few moments of bulking, sliding down to both knees with his palms flat on the ground.

Liam scratched his chin, then hummed thoughtfully. Quirking an eyebrow, he declared. "Not good enough." Rowan was starting to shiver. "Lower."

He heard a small whine escape the giant's lips as he again struggled against the command. When he failed to fight it off, his chest lowered considerably to the ground.

But it still wasn't enough for Liam. "Lower," his voice dropped with the word.

"Master--"

"Did I tell you to speak?" He heard Rowan whimper then, sure the half skinwalker was biting through his tongue to keep silent. His chest dropped again, the puppet's forearms and palms now flat on the ground with his forehead resting between his hands. He trembled, and Liam smiled. "Good boy," he responded as he raised a foot to place it on Rowan's head. Rowan didn't even flinch. Even better. "Show them their rightful place," he gestured a red nailed hand out to their audience with a flash of vaguely sharpened teeth, borrowed courtesy of the beast he was lording over. "Under our feet."


	4. Punishment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Tea is punished for the events that take place in this rp: http://thecandlecult.freeforums.net/thread/753/tea-leland-cl-rp

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS IS NON-CON HERE I AM WARNING YOU AGAIN
> 
> I WARN YOU BECAUSE I LOVE YOU

"You know the rules, boy," Liam growled in his ear as his red talons dragged over Tea's exposed skin. "Don't ignore our guest."

Tea twisted his head, but couldn't get free of his Master's grip. Eyes squeezed shut, he hated how used to the pain of having his body invaded by the other he was. No, it didn't hurt any less than the first time, but he knew it's ache well enough to anticipate it.

What really hurt was who he was being told to look at. His mouth was agape, jacket open wide, shirt shoved up, and pants around his ankle as Liam lorded over him, dragging his painted claws over his skin as he moved slowly, so slowly within him. He looked so smooth and clean as he disgraced Tea.

In front of Leland.

Leland, who was strung up in red just feet from them.

"Please," Tea whispered over and over, engulfed in what Leland was feeling, the absolute devastation combining with the bite of Liam's nails and the sting of his claiming Tea before another to tear Tea apart from the inside.

"Look at our guest, Rowan," Liam commanded, thrusting harder. "You're being rude." His will compromised, he squinted through tears to see Leland's stricken face. He . . . they were both going to be sick. "Now," a rough thrust had Tea crying out, the sound barely stifled, "tell him you don't need him."  
Tea dug his hands into the floor, wishing he had something, anything, to hold onto for support that wasn't his Master destroying him. "I," he felt his tongue fight to do Liam's bidding, "I don't . . . n-need you."

Another rough thrust. "Because?" Tea shrank. No. No, don't make him say it please. Liam's hips snapped against him so suddenly Tea couldn't withhold the pitiful keen he unleashed. "Because why?"

With his eyes closed, he answered brokenly, "Becaus-se I'm yours-s."

"Correct." Suddenly Liam was biting his neck harshly and Tea heard Leland start to snarl. He was sick. Tea was so sick he wanted to throw up.

But there was nothing inside but a massive amount of shame and regret.


	5. How Much

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ash has been captured and Tea has regrets.

"I trusted you, I trusted you!" He heard her cry from down the hall as Aiden dragged her to a room for imprisonment. Which was crueler? Which was truly crueler? Famosity getting ambushed by Aiden while talking to Tea? Holding Leland still at the command of his Master? Striking Lola over the head just for her humanity to be stripped of her? Having Liam destroy his brain so thoroughly that he actually dragged Nicoli to his doom? All seem to come to a head as Ash, who he himself had simply taken by the hand and led her straight to thus hell, yelled from down the hall. "You promised me!" He tried to cover his ears, but she somehow seemed much louder when he did. "You promised me it wouldn't be like this, that you weren't like them!" She shrieked and tears streamed down his face as he squeezed his eyes shut. "YOU PROMISED ME!"

He sobbed for the umpteenth time while no one was watching. He . . . he didn't know how much more he could take.


	6. Fear and Monsters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Tea has made plans with Tapi and Chronic in this rp: http://thecandlecult.freeforums.net/thread/787/favor-cl-rp
> 
> Tea's puppet Gemmy senses an opportunity to strike a bargain.

"What's the matter? Second guessing?"

"No."

"Then why are you shaking like a leaf?" Gemmy paced and snickered at his own joke. "Just turn me loose on them. Let me show them a good time."

"You'll hurt the cultists."

"You think they won't hurt you?" Tea flinched. "Face it tree. You're in hell. You're about to be flayed alive for what you've done." The Phobia gave him a calculating stare. "Which is why you need me."

Tea glared at him through the bars. "I don't need you."

Gemmy scoffed. "You do." His voice took on a crueler tone. "You're weak. You snivel at the littlest feeling anyone has. Your so-called masters have you bent like a one of those silly straws every chance they get." Gemmy looked really pleased at his attempt at a humorous analogy, but Tea still shuddered at the image. "And the cult expects you to stick a knife in them? You're going to need a hell of a lot of power my fine half bred friend."

Tea paused, thinking long and hard. Then he pointed out, "You want something."

Gemmy laughed. "Of course! Not as dumb as you look after all!"

"What?"

Gemmy's already splitting grin widened. "Give me your headspace. Give me your dreamworld."

Tea felt sick. "Why?"

"Because I'm always hungry, and being outside of my realm is not as fun as I had hoped." He lowered his voice to a sinister whisper. "Let me in and I'll repay you handsomely."

Tea had to be desperate to even consider this. But . . . Gemmy already took advantage of him and his mind every chance he got. What . . . what would really be the difference? "How do I get you in my head?"

The Phobia actually clapped one set of hands, chains rattling and tail clicking. "How are you on Greek, tree?" Tea shrugged. "Let's reenact the conception of Athena. I'll be Metis, you be Zeus."

The reference hit him immediately. "You want me to swallow you?"

Gemmy snickered again. "Shouldn't be too weird. I mean," he clicked his long tongue, "your heartless self already enjoys the chunks of me I so lovingly provide."

Tea cringed. But . . . this . . . could be worse. He couldn't believe . . . he was actually . . . considering . . . .

"Deal," he muttered before he could rethink this.


	7. Deter the Tyrant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Liam is defeated, and Tea pays a heavy price for his own freedom.

Tea had never heard his master scream. No, not like this. He retracted his secondary limbs, third eye, new tail, and new horns at the sound. Gemmy retreated within him entirely, abandoning him in the face of the Puppet Master. Tea felt the panic start to rise as Gemmy disappeared within his head. The hollow, broken noise that Liam unleashed was almost feral, and Tea had been the one to wring it out of him. How?

“He’s . . .,” Liam was on his knees, hands ghosting over the still body of the dire bat. “He’s . . .,” Tea still felt the scratches marring his back and abdomen where Relic had attacked. He still felt the cracked bone in one of his arms, which hung limp at his side. He felt everything. Everything except the agony of the grief-stricken Puppet Master. For just one second Tea almost felt for his master. Then Liam turned on him, eyes glowing and teeth gritted as he clutched the body of his most faithful puppet. “You!” he hissed, and all of the sympathy Tea hadn’t wanted to entertain anyways faded completely. “On. Your. Knees.”

Tea cried out as his body obeyed without his consent. He was already so horribly ripped open. Relic had already done his damage in his failed attempt to protect his master, what more could Liam do to him?

A lot. There was a lot more Liam could do to him and he knew it.

Liam neared and Tea flinched at the encroaching human, ready to strike. Upon realizing this, Liam ordered him to be still. Tea’s heart ground to a halt and his breath hitched as he fought the commands. He struggled, but every nerve protested painfully. Every bones set in place obediently, every muscle seized, and Tea’s eyes were wide with fear. His blood was everywhere, All over his torn legs, chest, back, on the floor his master stalked across. He was weak, so weak, and Liam’s influence was making him weaker.

But he still had his tongue. He had not been ordered to be quiet this time. “You were wrong about them,” he snapped as Liam came to stand above him. A painted hand snaked through Tea’s hair, yanking his head back so hard Tea felt the roots give. 

Liam’s glare was the worst he’d ever seen, his face red as his nails. Tea cringed. He wanted to apologize, wanted to take back all he had said and all he had done. But he wouldn’t. He couldn’t. He refused. “There was always something about you skinwalkers,” Liam hissed through sharpening teeth. “You were always so goddamn hardheaded, so resistant to orders.” He shoved a nail, now a talon, just into Tea’s mouth and began cutting through his cheek. He squeezed his eyes shut and withheld a cry. It hurt, oh God it hurt. “I was foolish enough to believe your empathy would make you more receptive.” He drove a foot directly into the opening in Tea’s abdomen where Relic had started to tear out his organs. Tea let out a gush of air at the pain, glimpsing Liam’s now blood-soaked shoe. “But you turned out to be just like all the others of your kind.” That shoe then connected with Tea’s jaw, head twisted at such an angle his neck cracked again. He collapsed on the ground, landing on his broken arm. “You should have been wiped out like the rest of them.”

But he hadn’t been. He was alive. He was alive, and he wasn’t going anywhere. Struggling against the orders still in place, he growled out, “Too late for you.”

“Is it?” A stomp to his side broke ribs, and two very sharp hands grabbed at his good arm. Tea screamed as his master stood on his waist and started pulling it from its socket. His throat grew sore rapidly as Liam pulled and pulled until not just his joints and bones but his very flesh was tearing. “I think,” he declared as he dropped the arm at last, kicking Tea in the gut again to silence him, “it’s too late for you.” 

Tea simpered on the floor, tears fleeing his closed eyelids as he lay unable to move. Survive. He had to survive. He would survive. But at what cost?

Liam yanked Tea back up despite his devastated body, the giant shouting, “Stop!”

“You didn’t!” Liam retorted. His talons sank into Tea’s cheeks as he gripped his jaw to force the puppet to look at the master. “And now Relic is dead.” His voice faltered like he was actually going to cry. Then he snarled and raked another set of claw marks down Tea’s still bleeding chest. “You think they will save you?” He began cutting a collar into Tea’s neck, like he’d forced Tea to do to Lola. “You think they actually care about you?” Liam mocked him, almost laughing as a crazed smirk hit his lips. “They are beasts! Beasts don’t feel like humans. They don’t care like humans. They cannot compare to us, to even you.” Liam pulled away and backhanded Tea. Miraculously he did not fall over, but his blood filled mouth now had a tooth threatening to free itself from his gum. “A halfling MONSTER!”

Suddenly Tea was being dragged across the floor by red strings, which jerked him off the ground and slammed him into a corner of the room. He was dizzy on the impact, slumping into the restraints and vision fading at the loss of blood. Pain. So much pain. With no working arms, legs like jelly, chunks bitten and scratched out of him and organs lying everywhere but in their rightful place, Tea was in shambles. He shouldn’t be alive. Staring at his own innards, his own blood, tasting it all, he knew he shouldn’t be alive. His eyes fluttered open and closed. Fading. Everything was fading. Even his hearing could not pick up on the words that rolled off his tongue. “I’d rather be a monster.”

Liam stalked towards him with an outburst of rage, oblivious to the individuals now entering the room. Tea only felt them. He did not see them, his gaze fixed on his master who had never had to use his strings on him before. “Then it’s time I treat you like one.” Tea vaguely registered the man pulling the mummification instruments he’d used on Tea to make him bend to his will completely, the ones he’d stolen Tea’s very mind with. Liam’s hands neared Tea’s face, tools ready for insertion.

Tea did the one thing he was never supposed to do under any circumstances: he bit the hand of the Puppet Master.

Liam cried out at first, then the shock silenced him. They stared unblinkingly at one another, Tea’s eyes narrowed and unashamed of his actions. Liam dropped the tools, eyes wide and unfocused for a moment as it dawned on him what Tea had just done. The fury that bled across Liam’s face sank into Tea’s system.

Just like Liam’s fingers sank into his ripped throat and started jerking off his head. The words, “They can’t have you!” were the last to meet Tea’s ears before everything went black.

\--

Tea's head was halfway disconnected from his neck and shoulders when a feminine voice cooed, "Now now," and Liam's body froze entirely at the snap of someone's fingers. "You've had enough fun for the last few decades or centuries I'd say." There was another snap and he felt his hands start to release the giant's head. He resisted, digging red talons into a blonde scalp. His very veins strained against him, obeying the unspoken commands of the woman.

Liam snarled, "What is--?" His body jerked around and was forced against the wall adjacent to Tea. He glanced up in horror and a masked woman, who held her hands much like . . . like a puppet master controlling a marionette. His body filled with a horror he had not truly felt since losing his heart. "What are you--?"

"I'm going to need you to release your puppets," she declared before tilting her hands up slightly. His back arched and he felt a strain on his spine that made his eyes widen and his lungs ache as he gasped for air. "If you do so quickly and calmly, your death will be a lot less painful."

"Which is more than you deserve," came an enraged voice. Liam's eyes darted to the other speaker, a woman whose body was as fluid as the smoke that made it up. Their leader, he thought vaguely. She was here, just within reach, and he could do nothing. Even attempting to lift a finger didn't seem feasible. Not without the permission of the masked woman, who Tea had never made mention of having this ability.

Another individual popped up. One he recognized but . . . not quite. The demon. The demon was possessing his puppet, Liam's puppet, Lola was his--!

Another strain against his spine made him gasp as the masked woman declared almost playfully, "I can do this all day."

"I can't," Alulle whispered from within Lola's body. "She is weak. She can't hold me in much longer."

"I'd say the fucking traitor can't take much more either, but that'd be a lie," Tapi said bitterly as she glanced at the remains of Liam's prized puppet. "I hardly need to punish him. I think you tried your damnedest already." Her tone told him that didn't mean she didn't still have her plans.

And that rekindled his anger. "You will regret--."

He was cut off when a cloud of smoke enveloped his throat. "Release. My. Cult. Members." Orange eyes burned beneath blacked out glasses as the leader's power rippled.

It registered with Liam that this was the end. He was . . . he wasn't making it out of this alive. His eyes fell on Relic's body and fresh pain hit him. It hit him hard enough that his lips started moving.

And he didn't have the wherewithal to stop.

\--

"As the master of Leland, Nicoli, Lola," he listed off a few other names, Tapi listening intently as she recalled every member he'd taken from her and violated, "I release them." Afterwards, he looked weaker, like he'd been drained of energy.

But there was one name he hadn't listed. Chronic picked up on it immediately. She clicked her tongue. "You forgot one." Liam glanced up, gaze much duller than before. "Let me help you remember," she forced his head to twist uncomfortably to the side and the Puppet Master wound up staring at the blood soaked, broken, torn, seemingly lifeless and nearly headless body of his puppet. His last puppet. "Let him go."

Tapi saw the spark reignite in Liam's gaze before he turned and growled, "No."

"What use do you have of him when you'll be dead soon?" Chronic asked.

"He will--."

"No," Tapi snapped. "He won't die." The smoke around the Puppet Master's throat tightened. "He's mine now."

Liam grew angrier and louder as he bit out, "He belongs to me. He will always. Belong. To me."

"No. He. Won't!" Tapi's smoke plunged down Liam's throat as she lost patience with him.

"Tapi!" Chronic uncharacteristically shouted, dropping her hands at the loss of composure in the leader.

Liam's body convulsed as Tapi burned him from the inside, his body crumpling to the ground as his strings around Tea began to fade with his life. Tapi's eyes burned, her body less corporeal as she turned the Puppet Master's insides into a lava pit, watching her smoke burn through his skin, reddening even the outside. Unlike with Lance, she did not waste any more breath on Liam's than she had to except to answer Chronic, "He will die and Tea will live." When the Puppet Master's body only moved now due to her smoke and the red strings had faded enough that Tea dropped to the floor and came apart like a ragdoll whose seams had been severed, she withdrew her smoke slowly just for good measure. "Somehow."

Alulle stole away with Lola. Chronic lingered alongside Tapi as they neared the bodies of puppet and master. They stared down at what had become of Tea, who lay in literal pieces. Chronic a noise of displeasure.

They looked to their fellow cult member, then to the man that had controlled him. He was dead. Just to be sure (or rather for her own satisfaction) Tapi kicked Lism in the face. When he gave no response, she grunted in confirmation. They had cut the head off the snake. The Candle Cult was theirs once more.

Then again, it had never truly belonged to anyone but Tapi.


	8. Waking Up (Aftermath of the Puppeteers Takeover)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Tea awakens a day after receiving his injuries in fights with Aiden, Relic, and Liam. He has an incredible amount of healing to do.

He was greeted by a bright light. Too bright. His eyes hurt. He . . . he couldn’t turn away. Squeezing them shut didn’t even help, but he couldn’t look away. Why couldn’t he look away?

He tried to shift where he was lying, only to find he couldn’t move at all. Why couldn’t he move? Why couldn’t he . . . ?

Pain. Massive pain.

Tea’s eyes shot open and he stared directly into the light that was blinding him. Where was he? Who had him, how had he gotten here, why couldn’t he move, why for the love of—?

Tea’s mouth went agape as he recalled vividly the events that brought him here. Ripping, tearing, cutting, his whole body. He’d been heartless, and then he hadn’t, he didn’t understand. His nerves were dead and severed now, but he remembered. Oh God, he remembered how he’d been shredded, arm broken, other arm pulled from its socket, flesh torn, legs battered. Blood. Blood everywhere and bones breaking. Talons in his skin, teeth on his flesh, hands hands hands strings all over he couldn’t get them off, head lolling disconnected, why were they touching him? No, he was wrong. He’d done wrong. He deserved this. He deserved the pain of memory, he deserved the pain he recalled, why couldn’t he FEEL?! HE SHOULD FEEL!

A noise pierced his ear drums and it took him several moments to realize he was screaming. He couldn’t feel it. He couldn’t even feel himself screaming. He should feel. He deserved the pain. He deserved it. Aiden was alive. He’d let him live, he’d let him have a heart. He should have killed him, shouldn’t have let him live. Tea had betrayed the cult. He’d betrayed his master, oh God his master! Was he alive? Was he here? Tea had bitten him, but hadn’t seen him die, was he dead? Please let him be dead, please! Let Liam be dead, let the cult be freed, let Tea feel, let him—

Something garbled the noise the flooded his mouth and pierced his ears and suddenly the light was flickering. He stared up with wide eyes, movements catching his attention as silhouetted figures grabbed at something. Something thrashed at his sides, what looked like limbs lined with black substance that he should know, he should know very well. He counted the figures, four in total, and they appeared to be holding something—him, it had to be him—down and they said things, things he couldn’t hear over his own voice. Still the noise garbled, like it was being muted by water or some other liquid substance, maybe something thicker.

They shouted things, he knew their voices. Chronic, Tapi, Problem, Ash, the last two names burned in his mind. He had hurt them, he had taken their family, imprisoned them, one of their family members had died, Tea had destroyed them, they were punishing him, HE DESERVED TO FEEL THEIR WRATH.

“Summon your hammer!” a voice rang out above everyone else. Tapi’s voice. He stared blindly at her silhouette, his vision blurred. He couldn’t see through the light, the water gathering in his eyes, couldn’t turn his head. “Summon it now!”

“I . . .,” the pain of speaking crashed into him and suddenly his nerves, the few remaining active, were buzzing to life. He felt wrecked. He’d never felt pens and needles of this magnitude. “Can’t,” he muttered over and over, the feeling subduing him, pulling his throat closed until all that came out were breathless utterances of the word and not the earsplitting screams from before. Something hot and thick filled his mouth and he knew, somehow knew, it was his own blood.

“Tea,” Chronic cupped his face and leaned over him, masked head blocking the blinding light, “focus on your hammer. Summon your hammer.”

“Please, Sweet Tea, we need your flame,” Ash begged. Oh God just hearing her voice . . . she sounded so sad, so pitiful. She should be screaming at him. Screaming like Tapi.

“Summon the fucking hammer!” He wanted to flinch away from her but couldn’t move. He couldn’t feel himself move. Parts of him were still trying to flail, he could tell by the way they leaned on the slab he was on, he was on a slab, he should be dead, they should kill him, they should kill him for what he did!

“Baby, you’re not going to get better thrashing like this. Summon your hammer, we’ll fix you.” Problem sounded so sweet, too sweet, she didn’t mean him well. None of them could mean him well, he’d hurt them too much.

“K-kill me,” he pleaded, voice so soft in comparison to his earlier shouts. “P-please.”

He heard a loud thunk as his mind grazed over the command to bring his hammer into being. “Gladly,” Tapi snarled as her smoke enveloped the flame on its head.

The flame snuffed out, and everything he’d once known fractured in his mind. Tea’s eyes lost their light. His bleeding throat lay open. His ringing ears were met with silence.

The silhouettes stood over him, dropping his bloodied, substance drenched body back on the table. They promised to fix what they hadn’t had the opportunity to break in the first place.

Someone had beaten them to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aiden's alive? Check this out: http://thecandlecult.freeforums.net/thread/891/tea-aiden-cl-rp


End file.
